Cheklov's Stuff

So I ordered some more mill ends because I ran out. Not quite as many as last time, but still quite a bit - about ten and a half ounces. It'll keep me busy for a little bit longer, which is nice. These mill ends are from GoatsMagosh - they have an etsy , but I found these through Amazon . Stop judging me this is a much better addiction than others I could have. I think between the three packs I got, there is enough for some more of the fire rolags, though obviously not in the same shades. Might be a little low on orange but I have more reds this time. The MVPs of the whole lot are these two dark colored batches - one dark purple, one dark blue - and they are shot through with shimmery other colors. HELLA pretty. There was a surprisingly large amount of pink in this mix, but I do think blue may have won in sheer quantity, though I think red and pink won in shades. Also there is this one crazy blended fiber in there that reminds me of th...

Okay so I started writing this post a little (A LOT) early this month because Paradise Fibers is A HUGE TEASE and I needed SOMEWHERE to flail about my anticipation. First, they posted this in their Ravelry group: That link, for the record, leads here . So that has some PRETTY DANG STRONG IMPLICATIONS. I discuss the box with my coworker, and we were bouncing rainbow? Wizard of Oz? SEEMS LIKELY? Then, on the 28th, a little e-mail caught my attention... Oh my. MOAR HINTS??? OH LAWD ALL THEM HINTS. So. EIGHT dyed fibers and an undyed fiber. My money was on rainbow by this point, but I wouldn't put it past Paradise Fibers to like, mash the two implied concepts together into one GLORIOUS box of goodies - I'm sure it would be easy enough to have Oz-themed rainbow colors; yellow brick road, Emerald City, and that's just me plucking the lowest hanging fruit, there.  But yeah all that aside I'm already plotting potential spins involving rainbows...

So I've still been making rolags. But I've eventually got to do something with them. The problem is... I am really bad at drop spindle. I'd need a third hand to actually be comfortable doing it, and that's just not something I've quite figured out how to grow yet. But I'm also being really shitty about getting my spinning wheel out of the box, finished and learning how to use it. Recently, I won a 3D printed turkish spindle from the crafting thread I've mentioned in a previous post; I LOVE IT. However, loving it does not in fact make me any better at spinning, it turns out it just makes me more frustrated that I can't produce a nice even single. I've been trying to practice with some rolags that turned out sub-par, colorwise, and so far it's just...a big ole chunky mess. And that's mostly intentional; I'm more focused on trying to get the motions back before I start trying to reclaim any pitiful skills that ...

Just popping in to spam the blog with my last two, much more successful, blending projects! First up, we have what I'm calling "Vaporeon" which is a combo of three shades of blue with a stark white to offset. No particular pattern, just whatever ended up feeling right. I ended up with six precious little rolags, for a total of just over two ounces. Next, I let Kira pick the colors, and she wanted this! Told her to name it, and she came up with "Edge of Twilight" which is just pretentious enough to please me. This one has five shades - a PANK PANK HOT PINK, a more subdued pink with sari silk strands of various colors, two shades of purple and a dark dull blue. Turned out quite nice! I ended up with five little rolags, precisely at two ounces! Someone on Ravelry was calling them wool snails, which I mean...yeah. I like it.

So last night was "let's see if the blending board can redeem this scary hair-wad feeling stuff and some stuff that might actually be more meant for felting". The short answer? Yes! The long answer? Still yes, but it's probably going to make a mighty rough yarn, despite drafting fairly well. First step was getting it all gathered up. 2.5 oz of fiber there. You can see how questionable both fibers are! (Honestly the brown grew on me as I worked it, but it DOES still feel unsettlingly like something off my own head.) The fiber separated into what I thought was more reasonable quantities for each set. You can see what I was doing with the layering as I went. I do think I went too heavy on it, as you'll see below. Still, honestly the effect is pretty nice. I fluffed the bottom up so I could start drafting the rolags off it - this was the point I realized it might be too THICK. At least with this rough stuff. Oh nooooo. ...